Broken Glass
by Scarabimi
Summary: Rose Lightsgrand, a Candor-born 16 year old, is challenged with the difficult task of switching factions. As she continues through the rigorous initiation phase of Erudite, she begins to realize things that she shouldn't, and wonders what the secrets she learns will mean for her friends, family, and the future.
1. Chapter 1

**Author Note:**

Well hello there! I'm Scarabimi, and I'm starting a new fanfic! Yay! Hope you all like it! Any comments or questions are welcome!

Love chu all~ Keep Reading :)

~Scar

**Chapter 1:**

5 bowls. 5 factions to choose from. 1 knife. 1 choice. My breath seems to catch in my throat. "Travis Lightsgrand" she calls out, and I watch as my brother stands, almost shakily. He looks about as nervous as I feel.

"Tray!" I call out as he walks away, he looks back, and we both mouth the words at the same time: _I love you, no matter what. _My parents are clutching each other's fingers tightly, staring straight ahead. Faction before blood. That's what I keep telling myself, but every time I look back at my trembling parents... I feel as though it isn't the truth.

Candor are taught to always value the truth above all.

"CANDOR!" My brother's blood splashes onto the glass, and I hear my parents sigh with relief, clapping politely with the rest of the faction. Jack Kang, our faction leader, meets Tray at the bottom of the auditorium, shaking his hand politely, and talking with him about nothing in particular. I wipe my sweaty palms on my black skirt, knowing that I'm next. My parents have gone back to squeezing the life out of each other's hands.

"Rose Lightsgrand," my heart seems to have stopped. I stand, all eyes are on me. Eyes from every faction, Dauntless, Amity, Erudite, Abnegation, and my own, Candor. My breathing is shallow, my heartbeat racing. _Faction before blood. _I take a shaky breath, and step forwards, politely maneuvering out of everyone's way. They stare at me as I pass, whispering things, things that I don't find very nice at all. I've been rumored the most likely to switch factions for over a year now. Candor can really gossip. I walk, and the factions watch. My footsteps seem to echo eerily throughout the room, as though it was empty, as though I am important. I wonder if I've made the right decision. The cold bite of the knife against my palm is expected, but shocking anyways. I've been waiting for this moment for my entire life. The skin breaks, and a bead of my dark crimson blood bubbles to the surface. I calmly extend my hand over the bowl, and squeeze.

_3... 2... 1..._

The blood splashes into the water, diluting it's clear bluish color with a redish-tint.

"ERUDITE!" The silence is short, lasting only a few seconds, but it feels like forever. Erudite claps politely, welcomingly, and their leader, Jeanine, stands to meet me. I slowly walk over towards my new faction, only aware of my feet, and the ground they tread on. I pass by Tray somewhere on the way, but don't acknowledge him in the slightest. I don't think I could've spoken if I wanted to.

"A good choice. One I'm sure you'll pride yourself on for the remainder of your life." And then she's gone. I sit on the first row, next to the other new initiates. An Amity transfer catches my eye, she looks anxious, and scared. I sit there, watching the rest of the teenagers, with last names M-Z step to the podium, and choose their fate.

I clap when my faction claps, trying to remain as silent and unnoticed as possible.

I have never felt more alone in my life.

* * *

The Erudite faction headquarters are large. I could easily get lost here if I wasn't being led by our new instructor. I glance at the other initiates, about three-quarters of them are Erudite-born, the rest are mostly made up of other Candor-transfers like me, with the occasional oddball Dauntless or Amity. There are no Abnegation transfers this year. _The selfless. _I had always viewed them as pointless, wasting all of their valuable time avoiding looking at themselves for too long and wearing drab clothes, feeding the homeless. Not many Abnegation end up transferring usually, I guess the trait of selflessness is extremely hereditary.

"Initiates!" Our instructor calls out, we all turn to her, a sea of multicolored eyes meeting her solitary pair. They regard us with clear, cold, analytical precision, glinting blue in the evening sunlight; they remind me of sapphires. "First of all, I'd like to welcome you to the Erudite faction's headquarters. My name is Kate Maxwell, and I'll be showing you around for the remainder of the initiation phase." She pushes her dark black spectacles higher on the bridge of her nose, tucking a strand of slightly graying hair behind her ear. "As you are all aware, the Erudite faction is full of the best and brightest. Our main strife in day-to-day life is knowledge, and so, in turn, Erudite leader Jeanine Matthews has developed a method of initiation which includes multiple lengthy tests, and rigorous coursework. The areas you will be covering include, Sociology, Psychology, Mathematics, Science, Communication, and History. You will each be required to complete at least one rudimentary course in each area, and from your standings in each, you will decide on a basic 'major'. At the end of the initiation process, you will each take an obligatory 420 minute test in the area of your major. The amount of questions, and the difficulty of each, will be personalized to you, so as to prevent cheating of any sense."

"Wow, this faction is _intense_," A dauntless-born transfer murmurs to someone dressed in the colors of Candor.

"Of course it is," the Candor-born snaps, "What'd you expect? 30 minute exam before it's welcome to the new faction?" Kate raises her voice.

"Listen up, all of you!" Her eyes harden, and her voice sharpens. "You, in the middle back," she points to the dauntless-born. "What's your name?"

"Uhh... I'm Juan," his slightly pinched eyes meet hers, and he frowns slightly.

"And you? Candor?" She responds with more dignity, and precision, meeting her gaze without flinching.

"My name is Abigail Tompson."

"This speech is of the utmost importance _Juan and Abigail. _I'd APPRECIATE it, if you'd listen!" We all fall silent, Abigail flushing with embarassment; Kate smooths her immaculate hair back, as if there were anything to fix, and continues. "In the case of a failure on the final entrance exam, you will be removed from the faction entirely, and no contact will be allowed between you and any of the others here." Juan curses under his breath. Abigail continues to stare straight ahead and grumbles something about his stupidity. "That'll be all for now, you can all head to your dorms, I trust you can find your way through a limited amount of space by yourself?" She says the last line while staring directly at Juan. Half of the Candor-born murmur that they in fact, can, used to speaking their minds. Juan just stares back, his dark eyes glinting dangerously in the sun. I watch them all, feeling less like a Candor and more like an Abnegation than I have ever before.

First day.

And I'm already the odd one out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author Note:**

Hey guys~! I was just wondering if any of you think I should actually continue this, I'm leaning toward no at this point haha, but not really sure. Anyways, here's the next chapter!

Love chu all~ Keep Reading :)

~Scar

**Chapter 2:**

The next day we get our schedules. Sociology, Psychology, Mathematics, Science, Communication, and History. 6 subjects. I have Math, Psychology, and History on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; Sociology, Science, and Communication filling in my Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Erudite have Sundays off. I suspect it's just for appearances, seeing as only an extremely small handfull of Erudite are acutally religious. Nonetheless, it'll be nice to have a break day to catch up on my reading and homework. I walk with Juan and Abigail to breakfast, they're arguing loudly about which kind of breakfast food is better, muffins, or bagels.

"But muffins taste SO much better," Juan exclaims.

"Are we seriously arguing about this? Bagels are healthy, easy to prepare, and virtually mess-free," she grumbles something about him under her breath. I just shake my head slightly, as we continue down the hall. The cafeteria is already full, tables and tables of blue-clothed persons just beginning to eat their morning meals. The three of us sit next to the other Candor-born initiates. The Erudite-born have their own table. Juan grabs his prized muffin, and Abigail reaches for her own champion, a bagel. "What do you think, Rose, was it?" We had introduced ourselves the previous night.

"I think, that it doesn't really matter which type of food I enjoy in the morning," I grab a piece of fruit. Abigail rolls her eyes, Juan seems to have zoned off, his eyes focused on a point far in the future. He twists the peircing in his lip distractedly, for the first time I notice that he has tattoos, lots of them; curling up his arms. They're all black, a nice contrast to his slightly tanned skin. His muscles strain and buldge under his skin, a true Dauntless. I wonder why he transferred in the first place, before quickly averting my eyes.

"Checking me out again Rosey girl?" He raises an eyebrow.

"Again? When have I ever, quote, 'Checked you out' before?" I murmur automatically, my Candor instincts kicking in. Far above us, a door sways open, and silence falls through the room. I can hear the click of heels for a while, before she comes into view. _Jeanine. _A boy who looks about my age stands next to her, he has soft brown hair, and eyes to match. He gazes down on us from behind thick-rimmed spectacles, analyzing everything he can. A true Erudite.

"Hello, Erudite," Jeanine starts, bowing her head quickly out of respect. The full-fledged and Erudite-born nod back, Abigail and I immediately copy the gesture, and Juan (with a quick kick to the shin) follows suit. "I have a quick announcement, and then you are all excused," she takes a deep breath, smoothing the front of her crisp, blue suit. "I'd like to take this time to welcome the newest initiates to their home, the Erudite compound. All previous faction..." The sharpness of her voice loses focus as I zone out, my attention diverting itself to the young man who stands next to her. I wonder what his story is, how he climbed to the top so quickly. His eyes meet mine for a moment. The purely analytical way he scans my body makes me shiver slightly. He raises an eyebrow, smiling slightly. "...The top three test scorers will be removed from the regular course, and invited to work on Project X, the Erudite's grandest masterpiece yet." I blink a few times, the boy's eyes leave mine. _Project X? _In all of the textbooks I had poured through, I hadn't heard the name once. "That will be all," she dismisses us with a wave of her hand. The boy turns, following her out of the room.

"Project X huh?" Abigail murmurs, leaning towards me across the table.

Juan shrugs. "I've never heard of it."

"Juan's never heard of anything," An obvious Dauntless born jeers from further down the table.

"Excuse you." He growls, standing, and slamming his palms against the table. The Dauntless-born rises as well, her eyebrow quirked quizzically.

"You gonna fight me?" She smirks, her fingers reaching for her waist. She frowns when she finds no weapon there.

"Did you forget Shay?" Juan's eyes play at devious, as he leans forwards. "You aren't Dauntless anymore."

"That doesn't mean I can't beat the shit outt-"

"Ah, well, at any rate, I've got to get to Math," Abigail says, obviously uncomfortable, as she turns towards the door, unfinished bagel in hand. "See you all after class!" She waves with her bagel-hand and rushes off to grab her supplies.

"That might be a good idea," I say, as I turn to follow her.

"What class do you have?" Juan asks me as he takes another bite of his muffin, discarding the rest to the garbage, previous fight completely forgotten.

"I'm talking to you squint eyes!" The girl Juan identified as Shay snarls, slamming a fist on the table. She seems eager for a fight; like she already misses the feel of blood on her hands.

"Psychology," I say, he answers with a wide grin.

"Nice! Me too! Well, I suppose we should be off..." He grabs me by the hand, and runs off towards the doors. I laugh, running along after him.

"You totally pissed her off man, not smart," I say while we pack our bags, "And scared off your girlfriend, nice going." He blushes, actually BLUSHES, looking down.

"Abigail?! Nah, she's totally not my type."

"Convincing," I say sarcastically. He flushes again, and we both burst out in laughter for some strange reason. It feels good to laugh, to be free like this.

Maybe Erudite wouldn't be too bad after all.


End file.
